Circus Devious
Circus Devious was a Big budget Adult Sword & Sorcery Erotic Film released by Pendragon Entertainment in 1983 which saw a limited X-Rated release in the United States. Boasting an all star cast of some of the most well known adult performers of the time, large scale sets, and surprisingly advanced special effects for it's time, the film recounts the last days of the fictional Zueru Empire before it's destruction by an asteroid impact. The Film is Loosely based on the Pulp magazine series "The Legends of Shride" made popular in the 1920's and 1930's by the Eccentric Empire City recluse J. A. Granados in the 1920's. Granadas himself praised the film for capturing the scale of the world he was trying to describe, but said he had been disappointed there wasn't more saber fighting or swashbuckling for his tastes. When asked if he had a problem with the films pornography, he said: "It's always been pornagraphy." The Film Stars Jackson Tower as Piktar, Monica Roman as his bride Kestra, Patrick Cooper Howl as the Queen's Bodyguard, Misty Meadows as The Empress Ardra, and Richard Rustic as Hound Tamer Arbo. Plot Set on the primeval World of Shride, The capital City of the technologically advanced, Atlantean-like Zueru Empire is celebrating it's final victory over hostile Reptilian Tribes in the Far East. The Emperor has returned from battle but lies dying, exhausted and withered from ten years of constant brutal war he sustained a horrendous and unidentified injury in battle against a Necro Shaman with ghastly purple eyes and a dagger made from black bones. Though he slayed the Shaman Witchmaster he had been teleported off the battlefield for several weeks only to return aged, weak, bleeding, rapidly fading, ranting about ethereal poison and world eating monsters breeding in his body, a massive set of claw marks raked into his chest with a strange glowing infection appearing to creep into his veins. The Narrator states that Prior to the events portrayed in this film His Empress Ardra was a kind, caring, Obedient Concubine who had ascended To Empress after the Death of the Crowned Empress 4 years Prior to the end of conflict in the East and his Return. She waits by his bedside as he begins to fade. Tragically the Empire has failed to produce a Aire to the Throne due to his prolonged absence. There are no remaining members of the imperial bloodline after his death and Ardra wonders out loud if he will ever be well enough to attempt to sire her again. He looks up at her and asks her kindly if she would allow him to try once more, sobbing she agrees and turns to disrobe. At that moment the Emperor breaks the fourth wall and hisses at the camera with a twisted forked tongue and fangs as his eyes bulge out of their sockets and glow an unnatural purple and he "shhh"s the audience. The Moment Ardra turns to face his bedside, his appearance shifts back to that of a kindly king, leaving her unaware of his possessed and dangerous state. She oils his erection, spreads herself and straddles him as she begins riding him slowly. He thanks her and she look at him with deep affection, promising to do her best, and as she begins to move a sharp claw appears to grab her rump and dig it'd claws into the flesh of her ass with that same sickly purple glow seeps out from the black nail beds, The sounds of Frantic Equine mating echo down to the streets below as Piktar and Kestra finish packing up clay at the small merchant stand just outside the palace wall. Hearing the sounds above, The two wolves embrace kiss and soon begin mating in the now closed market stall. As the two listen and continue to mate quietly on the floor Kestra mentions how good it is to Hear the royal couple welcome each other back. She asks Piktar is they can have a child since the war is over, He agrees enthusiastically and they no longer keep quiet, indulging each other as mating turns to breeding. On the City wall The Captain of the Royal guard and the hound master listen to the sound of frantic sex and breaking furniture coming from the imperial bed chamber and openly long to return in the next life as The Emporesses Dogs. While never explicitly shown this is a nod to the original pulp magazines many mentions in passing that the people of Zueru openly have sex with their animals. As the guards watch the night sky, and debate whom of the two the empress would welcome to warm her bed more frequently a strange blue Star Appears overhead with a tail. Back at the market stall, As Piktar plows his knot into Kestra they are discovered by two boys who have been watching the couple for some time, though the lovers are far to enamoured with each other to pay them much mind. They too notice the light in the Sky and Kestra says out loud that it is a bad omen and that the god Atruyal is Angry, both appear deeply troubles and he wonders aloud if they just made a terrible mistake. Back in the palace bedroom room the Empress rides her mate with wild abandon, his hand feebly attempting to grab her his as he gasps for Air. Suddenly she throws back her head and call out for th guards who rush in blades drawn and are startled by what they see, uncomfortable and confused. Ardra exclaims there is wonderful news and without stopping commands that the emperor tell his guards the "wonderful news", The Emperor decries at the top of his lungs that Ardra is Empress of Zueru and all creation. His heart then seamingly explodes in his Chest, Her back arching, still facing away from the Guards, she orders them to leave and allow her the night to grieve with her beloved, two of the guards exchange very worried looks as her tone is very different then they are used to, She resumes riding the Emperor and snaps her command again, the Door closes, The Emperor's body crumbles into Coal and Ardra faces the camera, now host to the big with the glowing purple eyes, she "shhh"s' the camera, throws the sopping wet furs from the bed, scattering the coal black bones of the Last Emperor of the Zueru. She looks to the sky and begins cackling, the bright object already appearing closer. Time passes, and Kestra worries aloud about the object in the sky, stating that it has appeared months ago, the day the empress sealed the palace and barred the city gates. Back in the throne room, Though lustful for her, the captain of the palace guard has resisted her the longest , however As we return to the Palace we can tell that the guards have been corrupted, eyes purple the entire team can be seen plowing into empress ardra as she sits on the throne. Her Captain is bound, he protests, begging the empress not to force him to forsake his mate but she ignores him and the other guards Force his throbbing erection passed her glowing purple pussy lips. He tries to desperately to resist but as he enters her, The captain of the Guard has succumbed to her corruption and grips of throne, she smiles and he begins fucking her with vigor and unnatural passion. He ejaculates into her and her glowing eyes Flash purple once again. Casually and carelessly she pushes him off of her and his eyes are revealed to now finally be purple, she's far more enamored with his leavings than with him and she stands to approach the balcony, from here she addresses the city below which as we can see has now fallen into Anarchy with the Silence from the palace and the death of the emperor being last news. Twisted and crazy Ardra declares a mandatory Citywide orgy and proclaims that until further notice there is no law in the Empire. The city can be heard erupting below into further chaos. Fires are being sent, people are being dragged from their homes, rioting, rape and looting take over the streets. The Palace Doors burst open and a horde of Guards and Palace servants alike are released into the city, all of them possessing the purple glowing eyes of the corruption, as the scene transitions to night. The city is hot, fires continue to rage but the mad Queens mandatory orgy is now in full effect, clothing, bodily fluids, and writhing naked couples seems dominate every area of the city. The scene moves down into the market and we can see that the infection has already spread here as well, guards, shop owners, and dozens of corrupted civilians engage in all Manor of perversion. Still unaffected our young merchant couple makes one final attempt to sneak out and escape the doomed City. Kestra tells Piktar she is frightened but he says they have to go if they ever hope to escape the doomed city and the approaching death from the sky. Everyone they know has been taken over by this Supernatural lust and neither wants to be claimed by it. He brandishes a small dagger to protect her, and she holds her belly, protecting their unborn child as they creep down a dark alley, sounds of approaching who steps follow them. As they near the gates Escape seems possible, the guards or anyone else who cares having abandon their post long ago. Kestra tells Piktar again that she is frightened, he comforts her. A block away however they encounter a possessed palace guard and two other females, the guard himself and the mare he is fucking do not notice but the second female lustfully invites Kestra to join them, Kestra recoils but the two continue forward, running towards the gate. Just before reaching the gatehouse he loses his grip of her hand. She has stopped running. He closes his eyes and doesn't want to turn around to see her possessed, but her voice confirms his worst fears, she says that they must remain loyal to their divine empress and doesn't want to leave. He starts to cry, she asks him to turn around but he takes a step forward, she asks him kindly to stop, he doesn't listen, trying desperately to move on without her now, but she pleads with him to turn around saying they can all stay there as a family. He breaks and looks at her and he can see that her eyes are wide and glowing purple, her nipples any even her belly, now noticeably larger, also has the same purple glow. He clenches his eyes, looks up to the massive white light in the sky and Rip's the tattered remains of his loincloth away no longer needing them in this endless Frenzy, he cries out that he isn't going anywhere and the two join in entranced coupling on the floor Dusty abandoned back alley, across from the gate as the building behind them begins to collapse and burn. The glow from the sky intensifies as the camera pulls out to one final wide angle shot of the city as the light impacts and destroys it's entirely. The scene Fades to Black, slowly revealing a massive many miles long black glass krator with purple glowing tendrils rising out of it like trees. The Film ends on a black screen with white credits that slowly turn purple. Reception While the film was heralded as Triumph by the adult industry and embraced by many fans both of the fantasy series and of porn, but critics rejected it and due to its limited release the film bombed drastically. The next 4 years and many releases from Pendragon would be spent trying to recoup lost funds on this project. Critics panned the movie, and the script, praised the special effects to a certain degree even though unanimously stated that they were wasted on such a tasteless project, and while they were unkind to the majority of the cast's performances they seemed to take specific joy in mocking and belittling the performance of Misty Meadows as scene chewing and completely over the top. Publicly Misty stood by her performance and was even backed up by the director who himself stated that her crazed, bombastic overacting was keeping with the original Source material as it was written in the Legends of shride. Critics ignored this for the most part and at the time numerous jokes, references, and then overall enjoyment in pointing out with a bad actress Misty Meadows was unfortunately overshadowed the film itself and its entirety, even Landing a rather tasteless skit on long running satire comedy "Friday Night Playback". In the public eye, Meadows laughed it off however in a 2007 interview with friend and fellow performer Debbie Dallas she stated: "It was not fair what they did to Zelda, she put on a brave face for the camera but the way people treated her after that movie launched was just awful, she went from being so proud of that performance to being so ashamed of it that I had to talk her out of leaving the industry more than once, and I know that Jackson had to talk her out of something even more severe at least once. I don't want to get into that. Frankly, after the way Hollywood acted after the release of that run of films is it any Wonder why our Industries don't really talk anymore. Besides, Have you seen Those movies these days? They could use more what we brought to the table." Over the years and with the Death of Shride Creator J. A. Granadas in 2003 the film gained a massive underground following with the resurgence in popularity of both the original Legends of Shride novels and the announcement in 2012 that HTH Studios would be returning players to Shride with a project called Warrior Class that seeks to reboot the franchise for the 21st century. When asked about the project Crowchild was stated as saying: "It's a real long ways off, we've only just recently begun to break ground on project and pre-production will likely carry on for many years, it's the largest project we've ever attempted. A massive World, a massive back catalogue of classic pulp swashbuckling Adventures through bizarre post-apocalyptic ruins on alien worlds. Mix in a nice healthy dose of hardcore xxx action and I think we have a winner on our hands. It's a real shame that more hasn't been done with this franchise, it's amazing how few people have known it exists, I've always felt bad for the folks who made circus devious back in the 80s because that movie blew my mind when I first saw it. It was like they were making something in a dream I had." Category:MetaMedia